Record-book and method of making the same



(No Model.)

J. W. SEE.

EEOOEE BOOK AND METHOD OE MAKING TEE SAME.

PatentedJune l2, 1888.

Witnesses amant.'

N. PETERS, Pzwlc-Lflhngrapnur. wnhingcevx n.0.

Inventor,

and laid upon the panel, the size of this sheet u opposite side of the leaf.

Unire Sintes JAMES XV. SEE, OF

HAMILTON, OHIO.

RECORD-BOOK AND METHOD OF MAKFNG THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 384,288, dated June 12, 1888.

Application filed June Q0, i887. Serial No. 241,821. (No modeL To @ZZ 'whom may concern:

Bc it known that I, JAMES XV. SEE, of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Records and the Method ot' Making Same, of which the following is a speeieation.

This invention pertains to books containing records, such as of the proceedings of deliberative bodies.

-The invention relates to a method and device whereby the record-book will be caused to show on its face whether or not a detected alteration is fraudulent or irregular.

The improvements will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective view of a record-book illustrating my improvements, the book being shown as open and as containing recordmatter upon thelefthand page only.

In the drawing, A indicates the leaves of the book, composed of ordinary paper, but preferably of somewhat greater thickness than usual; B, the surface of the leaves; C, a border printed upon the surface of the leaves so as to inclose a panel te receive the recordmatter, except such annotations as it may be desired to have written in the margins; D, the panel within the borders, the surface of the paper forming these panels being coated entire with gum and then allowed to dry; E, consecutive pagenumbers on the leaves exterior to the borders; F, a sheet of paper attached to the surface of the leaf within'the margin by being dampened conforming substantially with the sine of the panel; Cr, the matter of record written upon the reeordsheet F by a type-writer; and l-I a seal impressed upon the leaf, partly on the record-sheet and partly on the margin of the page outside the record-sheet, this seal being of that .impression character which produces a design in low relief upon one side ofthe leaf of the book and the same in inleg/lio upon the Integrity and durability are two important requirements in connection with books of record, and these requirements are generally se cured by forming the leaves of more or less absorbent paper, and by writing the record- .inatter `upon these leaves with a permanent liquid ink capable of penetrating the ber of the paper. The objections to such records are, first, the enormous expense of making them,

and, second, the fact that as the record is being written clerical errors, always liable to occur, must be corrected by erasure and re writing, in consequence of which method of correction the record will, after the passage of time, bear evidence of alteration after having been written, and thus suggest questions as to, the integrity of the work. A further objection to such records is to the frequent lack of legibilty, due to the peculiarities of handwriting and the smearing and blotting due to aecident or carelessness.

The modern typewriting machines produce very legible and comparatively elegant work. They cannot be used, so far as I know, to write directly upon the pages of open books. The 7o inks employed by them are, in most eases, open to the charge of fngitiveness, and this is especially the case as the inks employed by these typewriting machines are of a heavy character laid upon the surface only of the paper, as distinguished from a liquid inl; which penetrates the fiber of the paper. Furthermore, the type-w riter operator is, like the penman, liable to make mistakes in his work, and

these mistakes he corrects by erasing the ink So from the surface of the paper and reprinting the matter over the same spot. Typewriter work thus corrected will bear evidence of l1aving been altered since being written, and the integrity of the record so made will be open S5 to doubt. The alteration of a record made by a type-'Writer can beA more easily effected than. if made by pen and ink, owing to the fact that the work is not autographic, and that the alteration simply requires the removal of surgo ter of the impression, fourth, ready suseeptiroo bility to alteration.

In using my improved record-book the reef The use of the typewriter for ord-matter is written upon the sheet F in a type-writer in the usual manner, while the sheet is entirely separate from the record-book. The sheets for this work are, of course, to be chosen of a size to suit the panels in the record-book. The type-writer operator, in 'correcting mistakes as the work progrcsscs,erascs and rewrites in the usual manner. If the sheet when thus written is not satisfactorily fair and correct and clean, it may be destroyed and a new one written. Vvvhen the recordsheet is satisfactorily produced, the back of the sheet is dampened, preferably by laying it back downward upon a wet cloth or the like. The sheet is then laid back downward upon the panel of the record-book,where it belongs,and pressed nicely to place, the border on the page ofthe record-book serving asaguide in fixing the sheet, and serving, also, as a neat outline for the sheet. The seal II is then impressed, preferably very soon after the insertion ofthe record-sheet,though the application of the seal should be deferred until record-sheets have been affixed upon both surfaces of the leaf of the book. y

In fixing the seal H an ordinary seal-press is employed, and the result is a design in low `relief upon one side and in intaglio upon the opposite side, the seal being partly impressed in thelcaf of the record-book outside the border C` and partly in three combined thicknesses, consisting of boolcleaf and the two affixed record-sheets. The superior thickness of material Von which the seal is impressed within the border, in conjunction with the softened character of the paper due to the presence of the moisture employed in affixing the recordsheets, gives to the seal distinctive characters inside and outside the border.

The dampening of the back of the typewritten record-sheets causes the ink to be ab sorbed into the fiber of the paper toward the back of the sheet. This will be fully understood when I state that I have taken a typewritten sheet, dampened its back, applied its back to a tissue copying-sheet, and subjected the two sheets to pressure in a letter-press, and thus produced a so-ealled letter-press copy7 from the back ofthe sheet. The result of this absorption toward the back of the sheet in the record-sheet now under consideration -is that alterations which have been produced by the type-writer operator in correcting his mistakes become fixed. By this I mean that a future inspection of the sheet will show at once that the apparent alteration was made before the sheet was afXed to the page of the record-book. Any attempt at alteration after the record-sheet has been afixed to the page of the record-book will obviously present distinctive characteristics and be selfdetectvive. The backward absorbtion of the ink into the fiber of the paper deprives the typewritten sheet of `its objectionable characteristic of being distinctively a sheet containing writing in a surface impression only. By reason of the backward absorption of the ink increased durability or permanency is given to the work, by reason of much of the ink being in the pores of the paper, and not exposed to the action of light. It will thus be seen that the rccordsheet, when fixed to the leaf of the recordvbook, possesses the permanency,

of Written records, the beauty, legibility, condensation, and cheapness incident to typewriter work, and a self-detecting quality as to subsequent alterations not essentially possessed by either type-writer work or written work. It will be seen that the only plan of altering such a record is to strip the record-sheet from the book-leaf and to substitute therefor another sheet containingditferent matter. It is the office of the seal H to etfectually guard against such substitution. Vhile the seal has no autographic qualities, and while the sealpress may be accessible to any person, it will still be found to be impossible to strip a recordsheet from a book-page and substitute another, and then reimpress the seal in such manner as to avoid detection. In the illustration I have shown the lower right corner of the sheet F as being turned upward. This is done merely to illustrate the fact that the sheet is a. sheet separately attached to the page of the record-book. At the border just above this turned-up portion of the record-sheet I show a signature written partly on the recordsheet and partly on the margin outside the recordsheet. Such signature may be used in conjunction with or as a substitue for the seal, the signature thus used possessing autographic qualities, but is not so sure a reliance as the seal. The security afforded by the signature thus used will, however, be ample if care be taken to write such signature very soon after the record-sheet has been fixed to the book page. The signature will then be written partly on damp paper and partly on dry paper, and certain peculiar owings of the ink will take place at the edge of the record-sheet. It is not believed possible to strip a record-sheet and substitute a new one and apply this identfying-signatuie in such manner as to be beyond detection.

It should be particularly noted that in the formation of the improved record had work may be discarded at any time before the application of the seal or identifying-signature which crosses the border. Before such final act a bad record-sheet may be stripped oft' and a new and better one substituted.

The entire surface of the leaves of the record-bookl may, if desired, be coated with gum; but it is far preferable to confine the gumming to the panels. The gum or analogous adhesive material employed must of course be soluble by moisture.

I do not claim a record-book with gummed receiving-pages, or a gummed sheet combined with a record-shecthaving recordmatter transferred to its back surface or through it from. the back, as produced by the letter-copyingpress process on transparent paper, or marks of identification partly on a gummed sheet IOO l'lO

und partly on u sheet aflxed thereto. These matters alone will not produce a record-book which will show on its face Whether a detected erasure or alteration has been inside before or after the record-slieeLl is made a4 part of the 1'ecord-book.

I claim us my inventioul. Thal; improvement in the orb of making records which consists in gumming the zipio propriete surfaces of the leaves ofthe recordboolr, impressing the record-mutter with lalosorbuble ink upon the face surface only of a loose sheet of paper, applying moisture to the back of such impressed sheet, a''fixing such x 5 sheet to the gummed leaf of the record-book, and applying u niark ol identification jointly upon the surface of the nflxed record-sheet and upon the uncovered surface of the book leaf', substantially as described.

' 2. Inarecord,thecombinationofzibookhaving leaves provided with appropriate gummed surfaces, o rccordsheel; having record-matter impressed upon its face surface and absorbed toward its oillersurlace ullxed to such gununed book-leaf, and :i niark of identiiication applied jointly ou lille affixed record-sheet and au uncovered portion of the surface of the booklea-f, constructed substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JAMES XV. SEE. TWitnesses:

W. A. Suu-zum, A. MYERS. 

